The Latte
by infinite vertigo
Summary: As many freshman, Deidara's first day of college is hectic, scary, and awkward. However, nothing beats getting lost, having coffee spilled on you, swearing at your teacher then walking into his class thirty minutes later. SasoDei


**.disclaimer: don't own.**

_**.title: **__the latte._

_**.genre: **__romance; humor._

_**.pairings:**__ sasodei._

_**.word count:**__ 4,839._

_**.summary:**__ as many freshman, deidara's first day of college is hectic, scary, and awkward. however, nothing beats getting lost, having coffee spilled on you, swearing at your teacher then walking into his class thirty minutes later._

_.note: this is a repost. i deleted the oneshot series and i'm re-publishing my favorites._

**.the latte.**

"Shit, un."

A blonde teen scowled as he shifted his books awkwardly from his right arm to his left all while struggling to pull out a campus map from his backpack, causing him to hop around awkwardly on the streets of New York City. He loved New York University, of course he did. He applied early decision to the Tisch School of Arts as a photography major and almost broke the ceiling when he jumped up in joy upon seeing his acceptance letter.

However, he hated figuring out his way around campus.

Unfortunately, Deidara had decided that all of NYU's positive aspects overlooked the no actual campus thing. Of course he enjoyed the actual campuses of other schools, but something about NYU was speaking to him. And besides; he figured he'd figure out the city soon enough. But he definitely didn't consider the first day, when he would have to start figuring everything out.

He looked around, his blue eyes searching around in an irritated manner as he pushed his blonde hair away from his eyes, frowning. His first class was at nine a.m. and was an art class. The course book had described it as basically a free period in the art room, where one could either make sculptures or paint or whatever kind of art he preferred. That seemed like a good morning class to Deidara. Though a photography major, his true passion was painting.

"Damn school… who knows where this building is… could be there… or there… or a ten minute walk there… I'm going to be so late, un."

Deidara sighed and leaned against the wall, looking up at the sky and wishing he had his camera right now. New York City had some of the most gorgeous scenery he had ever seen. Not only the sky, but the parks and buildings offered so much beautiful history that he just wanted to spend all day clicking away on his camera.

Unfortunately, Deidara was rudely interrupted from his wishful thinking as he felt a sticky, hot liquid against his right arm.

"What the hell, un?" Deidara snapped and jerked away, glaring at the redhead standing in front of him, holding a spilled cup of Starbucks.

The redhead sighed, and stared at his cup. "Looks like I need a new one."

"What about me, un? You just completely drenched me in that damn drink!" Deidara never liked coffee that much; it was too bitter no matter how much cream and sugar he added in. He preferred things like mochas and tea.

"You can go home and shower and change. I, however, have to wait in line for another one of these," the redhead, who looked just a few years older than Deidara was, looked at him impassively, scanning the blonde's drenched black sweater sleeve, his eyes trailing down to the trail of coffee on the light wash jeans.

"What the hell are you looking at, un? Checking me out, you perv, un?"

"Don't flatter yourself." The man blinked again, answering in a monotone voice before he pushed past him and walked off calmly.

"Fuck you, un!" Deidara called after him and looked at his clothes with disgust, sighing. "Well. I'm late already; might as well be even later, un."

With this new mindset that it was okay to miss about half an hour of class, Deidara trudged back into his dorm, not too far considering he had just gotten out of the building before getting hopelessly frustrated, and threw his backpack and books on his bed messily. His roommate, some kid named Tobi, was still snoring away on the bed and Deidara smirked. Too bad his brushes cost about a hundred dollars each; otherwise he'd shove them up the kid's nose.

He pulled out his suitcase from under his bed and pulled out a new pair of jeans and a navy t shirt, heading into the bathroom. As he walked into the bathroom shared by the two rooms, he turned on the shower and shed his clothes, staring at himself in the mirror and thinking about the odd redhead that he bumped into.

Most people would at least have the decency to apologize. That guy acted like it was Deidara's fault for being lost and standing in front of his own dorm building.

"Bastard. I hope I never have to see him again."

**-X-x-X-**

If Deidara weren't an atheist, he would've cursed God right now.

"You're late." The familiar deadpanned voice irritated Deidara's ears again as he opened the door to his first class, being able to find it when he asked a blue haired girl that was a sophomore. She was pleasant enough, talking just enough while they walked to class together without being overly annoying. She, unlike Deidara, was in the nurse's office for cutting herself while cutting paper so she had an excuse and was let into class seamlessly.

"Why the…"

"I would stop talking if I were you," the redhead looked up, frowning. "Glad to see you showered. Where's my coffee?"

"What coffee, un?"

"The one that you were wearing earlier."

"That was your own damn fault, un!"

"You're really not helping yourself," the older man noted dryly and sighed. "Since you took your sweet time showering, I'll give you a brief rundown of what you missed. I really could care less what you're doing in here, as long as you're doing some kind of art I'll be satisfied. Grading will be based on the quality of the art, there will be no bias as to what you did."

"You forgot something, un."

"What?"

"What the hell is your name, you snobby, stuck up, old prick?"

"I'm twenty three. That hardly counts as old. My name is Akasuna Sasori, but most people refer to me as sensei," Sasori looked at his roster. "Ito Deidara?"

"Wow, you sure are smart, un. How are you a professor if you're twenty three? Shouldn't you be in grad school or something, un? Or are you homeless and crashing here?" Deidara pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Sasori's desk, grinning because he could sense that the redhead was getting impatient.

"Look, brat. I don't have the patience to deal a pathetic freshman that should be in kindergarten. Now go. Work."

"Fine, fine. Hey, can I call you danna, un?"

"Whatever you want," Sasori waved his hand and sighed as Deidara finally got up and headed towards the back of the room, choosing an easel and setting a blank white canvas on it. He sat down on the stool, mixing colors on his palette with his brush, scowling.

"Deidara?"

The blue haired girl prodded him gently and Deidara glanced over, blinking when he realized he chose the seat right next to her. "Yeah, un?"

"I'm Konan!" she smiled warmly, "Something wrong? You seem… well, not happy… most people are excited on their first day at NYU…"

"That bastard over there spilled his Starbucks all over me, un. Now not only did I swear at the teacher, I also owe him another coffee, un." Deidara scowled as he angrily mixed the blue and white violently, blinking as a couple of spots splattered onto the white canvas.

Konan giggled lightly. "Sasori-san isn't really the actual teacher. He's just been filling in for the last year or so; this counts as part of his internship, I guess. A really long internship…"

"…" Deidara blinked. "…So he is in grad school, un?"

Konan raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Of course. You haven't heard of him? He was one of the top artists of NYU when he graduated; no way he'd just stop pursuing art!"

Deidara groaned. _I just accused the most talented artist of NYU of being a hobo. Shit, shit, shit._

**-X-x-X-**

"Oi, danna, un."

Sasori looked up and immediately put his hand to his face as the last few students trickled out of the classroom, leaving him alone with Deidara. _Life just keeps throwing lemons at me. Damn._

"Yes?" he looked up and mustered his best intern-slash-teacher voice, which ended up being his normal monotone voice.

Deidara shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other. "Uh… sorry about that hobo comment, un. And sorry about not getting you a coffee even though I didn't know I was supposed to get you one, un. And sorry for swearing at you, un."

Sasori raised an eyebrow as he noticed Deidara fidget around awkwardly, meaning that apologizing was taking a huge blow to his ego. He smirked. "Why the apology?"

"…Didn't know you were the teacher, well, rather, the intern-subbing-in-for-the-teacher, un… I still think you're an ass though, un," Deidara added and shot a glare at him. "Who's the real teacher for this course, un?" he asked and pulled up a chair, plopping down in front of Sasori, who was beginning to look irritated again.

"Don't you have somewhere to go? Don't you have a life to attend to?"

"Nah, not really, un."

Sasori sighed and glared at Deidara. "My grandmother, Chiyo."

"Ah, Chiyo-sensei. That sounds much better than Sasori-sensei, un. Grandmother? What is this, nepotism, un?"

"Not a chance," Sasori scoffed, "She hates me. Forced to take me as her intern because of my skill; otherwise the school board would not have been happy."

Deidara mock sighed. "Who could hate you, danna, un?"

"Oh shut up. Now scram, brat."

"See you tomorrow, danna!" Deidara stood up and playfully saluted the older male and waltzed out of the classroom, leaving Sasori to burn holes into the chair Deidara had just previously occupied.

"What an annoying brat."

**-X-x-X-**

Deidara's intern-slash-teacher was cute.

That was the first thing that ran through his mind as he returned to his dorm and slammed the door shut. Seeing his roommate still snoring away, he frowned. Was the kid even alive anymore?

Like, really, really cute.

Deidara growled at himself as he collapsed onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow. There was no way he liked this guy. He was still a complete jerk, spilling coffee on Deidara and then expecting another one just because he was the teacher. No, he wasn't the teacher. He was an intern. He was a graduate student at NYU.

_And that means you can willingly flirt with him without being suspended, un!_

Deidara blinked as the thought ran through his mind and buried his face in the pillow even more, hoping the deprivation of oxygen would prevent him from thinking anymore. Besides, just because he had soft, ruffled, red bed head hair and doe like brown eyes didn't make him cute. Deidara had seen cuter.

Suddenly, his stomach made a rumbling sound. Deidara sighed and sat up, putting a hand on his stomach and frowning. "Guess I want food, un."

"Food?" the kid that had been sleeping the whole day suddenly shot up. "Senpai! You're back! Food? How was class? Let's get some food together!"

Even though they were both freshmen, Deidara's roommate called him senpai for some odd reason. He didn't mind being called that too much; it fed his ego. However, he did mind the kid because he was the most annoying person he'd ever met, next to Sasori, of course.

But eating alone would be quite lonely. And besides, he had to get used to Tobi sooner or later.

"Okay, Tobi. Let's go," Deidara sighed and swung his legs over his bed and watched Tobi scramble around for clothes. "Were you sleeping the entire day, un?"

"Yup! Tobi stayed up late last night organizing senpai's clothes!"

"…_You organized my clothes, un?"_

**-X-x-X-**

Part of the reason Deidara chose NYU was because of the food. When he had visited and tasted the food that the school offered, his stomach immediately dictated that he go to this university.

"Tobi likes this!"

Sitting with Tobi almost made him lose his appetite though.

Deidara continued glaring at Tobi as he ate his pasta slowly, hoping that Tobi would choke on the hamburger he was shoving down his throat. A couple of times that wish seemed to come true, but some damn person would come by and save him.

"Hey brat."

Deidara looked up and immediately grimaced; not only did he have to deal with Tobi but Sasori too? Sasori was looking perfectly impassive as usual, except the slightly amused smirk playing on his pale lips as he glanced at Tobi. "Nice friend."

"I'm Tobi! Tobi is glad to meet you!" Tobi extended a ketchup stained hand and Sasori blinked before waving his own. "I'll shake your hand if it's clean."

"I see you have another coffee, un," Deidara noted as he saw a Starbucks cup in Sasori's other hand. "Don't spill it on me again, un."

"Trust me, I wouldn't want to waste another four dollars. See you tomorrow in class, if you remember where it is." He added and walked off, leaving Deidara to suffer alone with Tobi again.

"Senpai likes his senpai."

"_What, un?_" Deidara's head snapped towards Tobi, not realizing that he had been watching Sasori walk away. The normally pale and annoyed face was now flushed a deep red, much to its owner's annoyance. However, Tobi seemed to be thrilled at this.

"Senpai likes his senpai! Tobi can tell by the way senpai watches his senpai and talks to his senpai!"

"Can you stop saying senpai, un? I'm starting to get seriously lost, un."

"Here's the game plan that Tobi came up with!" Out of nowhere, Tobi pulled out a piece of paper and shoved Deidara's plate of half finished pasta to the side, ignoring his protest as he started sketching a room. "Tomorrow, senpai will go up to his senpai and tell him of senpai's feelings! And then senpai's senpai will smile awkwardly and say that he likes senpai too! And then Tobi can stalk senpai and his senpai on their dates!"

"I told you! Stop with all the senpai, un! And why the hell am I getting love advice from you, un?"

"Because Tobi is quite the player." Tobi said seriously, with an uncharacteristically poker face.

"Yeah…" Deidara's smirk slid off his face as two attractive looking girls came by, each wrapping her arms around Tobi's neck.

"Tobi baby, I've missed you!"

"Babe, you have time tonight?"

"Sorry senpai, Tobi has people to entertain!"

As Tobi got up and walked off with a girl in each arm, Deidara groaned, putting a hand to his face. _There is something wrong here if Tobi has more dates than I do, un._

**-X-x-X-**

Unfortunately, Deidara was late to class again. However, fortunately, he was only fifteen minutes late; half of how late he was the first day.

Sitting in front of his easel, Deidara found he couldn't help but glance over towards where Sasori was every couple of minutes, whether he was sitting at his desk or walking around, looking at what people were doing. Whenever he passed by Deidara, he gave some kind of a grunt and continued walking. Though it wasn't the best response he'd heard from an art teacher, Deidara was glad that Sasori grunted instead of talked; most of Sasori's words concerning the students' artwork was "bad", "horrible", or the famous sentence of "you call yourself an artist?"

As he eavesdropped on what Sasori was saying, he had to admit, he could hear how passionate he was about art. Most people, even art teachers, left it at "this is bad" or "this is good." However, Sasori went into more detail, saying exactly what he liked and exactly what he hated, and then ended with giving critique as to how to further improve it. Or to scrap it and start over.

"Hey blondie, I need the damn blue."

Wordlessly, Deidara took the bottle of blue paint and passed it over to Hidan, a silver haired senior who was sitting on the other side of him. By the looks of his canvas, Hidan was either a minimalist type painter or had no talent and was simply taking the class for the necessary art credit to graduate. Known for his potty mouth and cutting insults, Deidara didn't want to try finding out.

"Oi, fuckwit. You used it all up!" he snarled and chucked the empty bottle back at Deidara, hitting him right in the forehead. Deidara blinked and looked at his palette, suddenly realizing just how much blue he had been using.

"Oops. Sorry, un."

"Okay give me the bloody red then." Hidan muttered and squeezed a few drops onto his palette, dipped his brush in it, and made a huge circle in the middle. "Oi, Sasori. I'm done."

"…The Japanese flag? I appreciate that you've made an effort to use something as inspiration but… seriously?" Sasori walked over and stared at the canvas, frowning.

"Never said I had to work my ass off."

Sasori sighed. Deidara couldn't help but snicker slightly; he loved seeing Sasori get worked up.

"The fuck you laughing at, you bitch?" Hidan snapped at Deidara and the blonde immediately resumed a serious face and continued mixing blue. Hidan muttered something about art being useless and stood up, stomping out of the room.

Sasori stared after him. "I'd fail him… But Chiyo-baasan would kill me if she had to have him for two semesters."

"Sensei," Konan leaned backwards on her stool and beckoned Sasori over, "I'm stuck…"

Sasori stood behind Konan and crossed his arms, frowning. "I'm not sure if you're color blind, but green and blue don't exactly match."

"Danna," Deidara spoke up suddenly, "I think that's the sky and grass, un."

Sasori shot a glare at the blonde who grinned back and continued talking to Konan. "Why'd you start with grass if you had no idea what you were going to paint, un?"

She sighed. "I'm not a painter at all… I like origami, but there's no origami class… I figured grass was pretty universal so I started with that and hoped that something would come to me."

"Your painting doesn't have to make realistic sense," Sasori leaned over slightly and Deidara felt his breath hitch as he felt the redhead's breath right by his ear. "You could incorporate something concerning origami or paper in your painting."

"Yeah, un! Instead of cherry blossom petals blowing away from a tree, you could do paper. Or have flying origami swans or something, un!"

The two males looked at each other and frowned, each hoping the other wasn't thinking what he was thinking. However, Konan confirmed it by saying "hey, you guys think so much alike!"

To which they both said "shut up" and turned away, glaring, leaving the poor girl confused.

**-X-x-X-**

Sasori had been talking to some kid named Sai for the last twenty minutes. Frankly, Deidara was getting annoyed. Not at the waiting, but because Sasori could talk to Sai for twenty minutes without looking irritated and two minutes with Deidara made him seem like he wanted to jump into the Atlantic Ocean.

Today, Deidara had made it to class on time. He still remembered Sasori's startled face as the blonde walked in smugly, seeing his stuff down by the easel he was at yesterday. Konan was surprised too; she admitted that she had expected him to be five or ten minutes late at the minimum.

He was still working on his painting; he had found a photograph of New York City's nighttime skyline that he particularly liked and was recreating that in a painting. Not the most original, but Deidara figured he wouldn't be able to fully concentrate on art as long as he has this weird crush type thing floating around his head.

Finally, Sai left and Deidara immediately pulled up the chair he was using yesterday and sat down in front of Sasori's desk. "Hey danna, un."

"Where's my coffee?" Sasori immediately asked, without lifting his head to look at Deidara.

"Still at Starbucks, un. You can go order it and pay for it yourself, un."

Sasori glanced up and smirked. "Better watch your tongue, brat. One day it'll get you in some serious trouble."

"Yeah well, until then I won't do anything about it, un. So, danna. What kinds of art are you particularly interested in, un?"

It didn't take long for Sasori to learn that unless Deidara wanted to leave, he wouldn't. So he decided it wasn't even worth the effort to make him leave. Besides, he'd never admit it, but talking to the blonde always entertained him. "Sculptures, mostly. Paint with watercolors sometimes. Other things too. But those two are the main things I enjoy doing."

"Clay sculptures, un?"

"Yeah. Or whatever I can find. Sometimes metal. Depends what I feel like using that particular day."

"So how long are you interning for, un?" Deidara decided to just keep throwing questions at Sasori. No harm about that. He knew about crushes; they lasted a while. So Deidara decided to speed this one up and get it over with: talk to Sasori as much as possible, realize how much of a prick he was, stop liking him.

"Another week or so. My grandma should be coming back," Sasori said without looking up from grading something.

"What're you grading, un?"

"What is this, twenty questions? Papers for a history class I'm interning for too."

"Two internships, un?"

"I'm glad you can count, brat."

Deidara counted backwards from ten to calm himself from making another snippy remark before speaking. "Why're you interning for a history class, un? Thought you were doing art?"

Sasori shrugged. "For fun. Interested in history." He looked up suddenly and frowned. "Hey, Deidara. Do you have pink paint on your face or something?"

"…Huh, un?" Deidara reached up and poked his cheek hesitantly, flushing even darker as he felt that his face was unnaturally warm. _Shit._

It took Sasori a few seconds to work it out and he smirked, leaning forwards slightly. "Or… do you like me?"

"Get lost, scumbag!" Deidara spat, still flushing a deep red as he stood up and stomped out of the room angrily, leaving Sasori in the room to chuckle at the situation. He scribbled an F on top of a particularly bad paper before clipping them all together and stood up to leave, but found himself gravitating towards the back of the room, stopping in front of Deidara's painting.

He bent down and scrutinized it. He hadn't gotten very far that day, apparently. All he had done was a deep blue for the background and started on the water, something resembling a bridge to the left and a couple of pencil markings for buildings. He expected more for three days of work. Though not much, Sasori had to admit, what he did see was promising.

_"Sasori," Chiyo called her grandson over to her desk as he was walking around the classroom, looking at all the art past students had left, "Tomorrow when you start interning, I want you to keep an eye on a particular student. His name is Ito Deidara; I've been told he's very talented at painting."_

_ "Chiyo-baasan, are you asking me for a favor?"_

_ Chiyo glared at her smirking grandson. "Keep an eye on him for me. He may even surpass you."_

"Some strokes are too rough and others are too thin; they're not even. The water looks horribly fake right now, and the pencil lines are a bit too dark; if he's not careful with his paints they might be slightly visible when he's done."

Yet despite all his critiques, Sasori was slightly impressed. Who would've thought that arrogant, bumbling, annoying Deidara could actually paint?

Sasori stood up and saw a bag of clay out of the corner of his eye and smiled slightly. It had felt like forever since he had been able to actually do something besides sit in this room and watch his "students" enviously. He took it off the top shelf and carefully set it down at a table that hadn't been cleared yet, leaving the sculpting materials and wire still out for him to use.

As he cut off a large chunk, he frowned slightly, thinking about what to make. Suddenly, an idea sparked in his head and he smiled slightly as he began working carefully to make his idea become a reality.

**-X-x-X-**

"That asshole better still be there, un. I did not stand in line for three damn hours for a latte if he isn't there anymore, un," Deidara grumbled as he pushed through people towards his art class. After getting home to his dorm he had an unsettling feeling in his stomach that caused him to decide to go back to the art classroom. That, and Tobi was being annoying again and organizing Deidara's books and papers. Deciding that it would be nice to come home to a clean dorm, he let Tobi organize his stuff. But that didn't mean he'd stay in there and listen to his babbling.

As he started heading back, he saw a Starbucks. Without thinking twice, he found himself waiting in line behind a mass of New Yorkers and fellow classmates. Apparently, eleven a.m. was the prime time for coffee, Deidara realized, as he ended up standing in line until two. When he was waiting for the drink, he finally realized he could've found another Starbucks to go to. The one in the student union was probably pretty empty; a lot of students had eleven a.m. classes.

After all, the only thing that made this particular one special was that Sasori had viciously attacked him with his drink two days ago.

He still wasn't sure what possessed him to get the actual drink. He had just planned to go back and continue working on his painting, but something gravitated him towards the latte. Well, it wasn't all bad. Sasori could probably finally get off his case about the whole coffee incident.

"Oi, danna, un?" Deidara called as he opened the door and stepped into the large, silent room. Looking at the desk, he scowled to see it was empty but his scowl soon turned into a frown as he saw that Sasori's stuff was still there. He blinked and looked towards the back of the room, letting a small smile creep onto his lips as he saw the redhead asleep at a table, a sculpted piece of clay in front of him.

Deidara walked over and sat down in front of him on the opposite side of the table and put the coffee down, picking up the sculpture carefully. It was a small bird; the kind that he often sketched on things next to his signature. Except the sculpture actually looked better than ones he drew himself, which he found slightly unfair.

"Brat?"

Sasori sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily, squinting slightly to make out a mass of blonde hair and a baby blue eye stare right back at him, holding his sculpture angrily. "Are you trying to steal my trademark or something, un?"

"Thanks for the coffee," Sasori immediately took the coffee and took a gulp of it before answering Deidara's question. "No. I needed something to sculpt and I thought of your weird bird thing."

"How did you even see it, un? I haven't finished anything yet, un."

"Your portfolio when you applied," Sasori answered easily and raised an eyebrow, staring at the drink. "…How did you know how much cream and sugar I used?"

"Well first of all, you're a bitter person, so I figured you didn't use that sugar much, un. When you spilled it on me, I judged the amount of cream by the color, un. I've painted enough times to know how much white is needed to add to a dark brown to get it a certain shade."

Sasori nodded. "I admit, I'm impressed, brat."

"Hey, danna, un?" Something suddenly overcame Deidara as he realized the two were sitting at the table together in a huge empty room. This crush wasn't exactly heading towards where he wanted it to head, so he decided to take charge of it.

"Hm?"

"You've got clay by your lips, un."

Sasori reached up to wipe away the clay that Deidara was talking about but found his hand was stopped by Deidara's hand grabbing his wrist and before he could process anything, the younger male leaned over the table and softly pressed his lips to the redhead's. Sasori couldn't help but blink a couple of times before closing his eyes, enjoying the fuzzy sensation pervading him.

A few moments later, Deidara pulled back, frowning slightly, which startled Sasori slightly. "You taste like coffee, un. It's gross, un."

Sasori opened his mouth a few times but found that his vocal chords weren't working, and a feeling of relief settling in him as he realized that was why Deidara was frowning. Finally he cleared his throat and looked away, flushing slightly. "Let's go."

"…Go where, un?" Deidara asked, hiding his own embarrassment, as he watched Sasori stand up.

Sasori turned to him, smirking. "To find me something to eat that you like so you'll enjoy the next kiss more."

**.a/n: as stated in the beginning, this is a repost. this was one of my favorites from the oneshot collection i deleted because it makes me feel pressured to force inspiration (and i didn't like at least half of what was there) and i wanted to keep this up, so voila. i hope you enjoyed, whether it was your first or possibly second time reading it!.**


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